Darkness Bound
by LynstHolin
Summary: DRARRY In his sixth year at Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy steals a Time-Turner, and Harry Potter has to find out why.


Warnings: suggestiveness, swearing, some violence

...

Albus Dumbledore folded his hands under his chin and regarded the boy in front of him. "Draco, you can tell me anything. I can tell that you are under distress. Whatever it is, I can help you, I promise. Your family, too." The words had a rote sound to them, as if he had said them many times before.

Draco Malfoy slumped down in a chair and did not meet the Headmaster's gaze. He was painfully skinny, with the bones of his face covered by the thinnest layer of flesh. The boy was as beautiful as a martyr, and he looked like he was expecting to be burned at the stake. He grunted and scooched down even lower in his seat, picking at his ragged fingernails. The Headmaster's eyes focused on Draco's left arm, and the boy pulled it in closer to his body.

The Dumbledore stood up and turned around, raising a hand to indicate the frames on the wall. "I've sent all of our portrait-dwellers away for privacy. There is no one to hear what you have to say but me."

Draco raised his eyes. His gaze was riveted on something that glinted on Dumbledore's desk, just barely visible under a sheet of parchment. Slowly, he leaned forward, hand reaching out. As the Headmaster rambled about how Hogwarts would always be a refuge for those that needed it, Draco moved the parchment a fraction of an inch and scooped up the golden object. It disappeared into his robes a second before Dumbledore turned around again. "I don't feel well," Draco said as he clutched his stomach. He got up abruptly and dashed down the spiral stairs, not heeding the Headmaster's concerned inquiry.

"What did that geezer want this time?" Goyle asked when he left the staircase, but Draco just pushed by him, pelting down the hall and up the first set of stairs that he came to. He darted down hallways at random, not stopping until he came to a dead-end half-blocked by fallen beams. His feet left trails in the dust as he picked his way over the rough-hewn timbers. On the other side, just in front of sheets of hanging canvas that covered mysterious gaps, were some massive blocks of stone. The blond boy took a seat on one and pulled his purloined prize out, lighting the tip of his wand so he could see it in the dimness of the ruined hallway. A Time-Turner dangled from his hand by its fine golden chain. Draco chewed his lower lip as he stared at the slowly spinning pendant, watching sand filter down through the tiny hourglass.

Draco bent down and smoothed the dust and dirt on the floor with his hand, then traced numbers in it with his wand. He frowned as he did a complicated bit of multiplication. The number he ended up with was large. He sat back on the stone block and muttered as he waved his wand at the Time-Turner. The hourglass began to spin, slowly at first, but it sped up gradually until it was a blur. He placed the chain around his neck as he waited. He was too intent on the Time-Turner to notice new footprints appearing on the floor.

Draco closed his eyes as the hour-glass slowed its spinning until it was barely moving. He opened them again with a shout. "_Who's there_?" He landed on his back in a hallway that was now clean, rubble-free, and well-lit. His hands seemed to beat at the empty air above him.

"Ow! Stop it, Malfoy!" came a voice from nowhere. Draco's left hand got caught in something and partially disappeared. He gave a hard yank and found himself holding a cloak. Harry Potter, looking flushed and ruffled, was straddling Draco's stomach. The black-haired boy wiped a trickle of blood from his upper lip. "What have you got against my nose, anyway?"

"Get off!" Draco bucked and tossed Harry onto the floor.

"Where are we? Or when are we?" Harry rose to his feet, adjusting his bent glasses. Draco turned on his heel and stalked away. Harry trotted after him. "You can't just leave me and take off with the only way I have to get back."

"Why not? It would get you off my back," Draco sniped. "I'm starting to think you're obsessed with me." Voices filtered down the hallway, and Draco froze. "Your cloak!"

"Sure, now I'm good enough for you," Harry grumbled as he spread the cloak over them. They flattened themselves against a wall as a group of giggling girls walked by. When the girls had passed, Draco tugged hard at Harry's arm, leading him onward. They dodged several more students and picked their way down a staircase. "Are we headed for the Slytherin dungeons?" Harry whispered, but Draco did not say a word. "We're awfully cozy under here. You might as well talk to me."

"Having your wedding tackle up against my bum does not make us friends."

"I'm glad you bathe regularly. If I'd been trapped under here with Crabbe, I'd have died by now."

"Put a cork in it, Potter."

The were down at the dungeon level now, and Draco, his hand still clamped around Harry's forearm, steered them behind a group of students in Slytherin robes. They came to a blank stone wall. "Incontrovertible," one of the students said, and the wall opened. Harry and Draco hurried down the passageway that was revealed and into the Slytherin common room. Lounging on a green leather couch was a tall, elegantly slim boy who had skin that was as pale as his eyes and hair were black. "Tom Riddle," Harry breathed. The future Dark Lord looked up sharply from the book he was reading, and Draco dug his nails into Harry's arm in punishment. Riddle frowned slightly then lowered his gaze back to his book.

Draco drew his wand and tried to move toward Riddle, but Harry planted his feet wide and refused to move, even when the other boy pinched up the skin on his inner forearm and twisted it. "Move, Potter," Draco hissed and jabbed back viciously with his elbow. Harry drew his own wand. Draco stabbed his wand forward. "_Ava_-"

"_Expelliarmus!_"

Both of their wands flew from their hands and to the open palm of Tom Riddle, knocking the invisibility cloak askew. The two had been too busy struggling with each other to notice that Riddle had taken his own wand out of his robes. Riddle jumped to his feet and threw a Stunning spell, knocking Draco to the floor. Harry wrapped the cloak around him and dodged to the left, evading another _Stupefy_. A tiny girl screamed when Harry bumped into her.

"Get the other one!" Riddle shouted at the Slytherins in the common room. Harry bounced around the room like a billiard ball as he avoided the dozen pairs of hands that groped the air for him. He headed down the passageway to the exit and pushed over a clutch of first years trying to get in. Draco was on his own.

Riddle put Harry and Draco's wands into a pocket, then knelt down and used the tip of his own to lift Draco's chin. "Slytherin robes. Where did you steal those from?"

"They're mine. I'm a transfer from Durmstrang," Draco said.

One corner of Riddle's mouth curled upward. "Which explains why you were sneaking around under an invisibility cloak." He wound a lock of white-blond hair around a forefinger and tugged hard. "I heard my name mentioned. What are you, Gryffindor? Hufflepuff?" His dark gaze sharpened when he caught a glimpse of gold chain. He used his wand to lift the pendant up to his eye level. "Well, well, well. So perhaps you are a Slytherin. Do I become so famous that people travel back in time to see me?" One good yank snapped the fine chain, and Riddle tucked the Time-Turner away in his robes. "It looks like you shall have plenty of time to get to know me."

"Give that back!" Draco lunged forward, but Riddle shoved him hard enough to make him hit the floor bottom-first with a loud _crack_.

"What should we do with him?" A knot of boys had gathered around Draco and Riddle. The one who spoke was large and ape-like, with abnormally long arms.

"We don't really have to do anything, Goyle. He has been... unmanned. There's not much he can do without a wand." Riddle smirked down at Draco, who was curled up in pain. "What's this?" The left sleeve of Draco's robes had slipped up, exposing his Dark Mark. Riddle knelt down and stroked it. "I like it."

A tall boy with a blond buzz-cut and an arm-load of books bounded into the common room. "What's going on, Tom?" He stood over Draco, looking at him curiously.

"Is he related to you, Abraxas? There is a certain resemblance." Riddle twisted Draco's face so the new-comer could see it. Draco's eyes widened as he looked up. Abraxas was stockier, with blue eyes and a squared-off, cleft chin, but there was definitely a likeness between him and his future grandson.

Abraxas raised an eyebrow. "I can't say that we've met. What's your name? You look like you want to say something to me. Spit it out." Draco just kept staring at Abraxas, wide-eyed.

"You've rendered another one speechless with your good looks, Malfoy," a girl called cheekily.

"It's been known to happen," Abraxas replied with a cocky grin.

Draco sat up gingerly, grimacing as his bottom made contact with the floor. "Get out of my common room," Riddle ordered. "I don't want to see you in here again."

"What am I supposed to do? I can't get back without the Time-Turner."

"Too bad. Crabbe, Goyle, show him out please."

"And get a hair-cut," Abraxas jeered. "Only _old_ wizards have long hair."

Goyle dragged Draco to the common room entrance and gave him a toss. Back out in the dungeon hallway, Draco hobbled along until he found a small wooden door. He went into the closet and knocked a pile of bed-linens onto the floor to half-lie on, resting his weight mostly on one hip. He blinked, sniffled, and started to cry.

The door opened. "Hey, are you all right?" Potter.

"You left me there all by myself, you arse-hole!" Draco shouted, red-faced. He reached for a wand that wasn't there.

"Hard to believe, as nice as you've always been to me." Harry turned to leave.

"Don't go! I'm hurt."

"Are you through shouting at me?"

"Y-yes. I think I broke my tail-bone. And Tom Riddle took the-" Draco bit his lip as tears welled up in his eyes.

"The Time-Turner?" Harry slumped against a wall. "That's bad. That's very, very bad."

"Oh, really, you think?" Draco snarked as his wiped his eyes with both hands.

"He didn't get the invisibility cloak, though, so we still could get the Time-Turner and our wands back." Harry had slid all the way to the floor. He turned and looked at the blond boy, whose face reflected utter misery. "You came here for Tom Riddle, didn't you? You were going to kill him. Why?"

Draco said nothing. He laid all the way down and turned away from Harry, robes hitching above his socks to show his thin calves.

"Fine," Harry sighed. He stood up and wrapped the cloak around himself again. "I'm going to the kitchens to get us something to eat, and I'm goingto steal some pillows, and I'll see what I can find for you in the hospital wing."

...

The closet was lit by a small oil lamp. Harry perused his map while Draco dozed, pillows tucked around him to keep him from rolling over onto his back. He was facing Harry, his hands folded prayer-style under his chin, and Harry gazed at him every so often. His eye-lids fluttered open, finally. "What's that?" he asked when he saw the map. Harry hesitated for a moment, then handed it to him. Draco studied it, half-smiling. "No wonder I had so much trouble getting rid of you. It's just what an obsessive stalker needs."

"I'm using it to get a sense of Riddle's routine. He may be keeping the Time-Turner in his trunk, and our wands are probably there, too. We need to find a time when he's out of the dungeons to try to break into it." Draco's eyebrows rose, and he put a finger on the map, using it to follow a certain moving dot. His mouth wobbled a bit. Harry sat nearly cheek-to-cheek with him to see what had his attention. "Abraxas Malfoy. That's your grandfather? He just died over the summer, didn't he?" Draco didn't reply. Harry squinted at the map. "Huh. I don't see any Potters. You know, I don't think you _can _kill Riddle. Hermione told me about Time-Turners. You could use a bat-bogey hex successfully on him, but who knows what will happen if you Avada him?"

"We won't know until we try, will we?"

Harry looked up at Draco sharply. "So I was right about you meaning to kill him."

"You should be all for that. If we kill him now, your parents will be alive when you go back."

"When did this become _we_?"

"_You_ made it so. I didn't ask for you to come with."

"Well, I've got the invisibility cloak, so it's probably to your benefit that I did."

Draco rolled over onto his other side, whimpering a little. "None of those potions I used last night worked very well. Let me see what else is in that sack you brought back from the hospital wing." He rummaged through the bottles and vials, selecting a jar filled with a thick balm. When he pulled his robes off, he revealed a painfully thin body. His stomach was concave, and the skin of his torso was tight against his rib-cage.

"You look like a plucked chicken," Harry observed. He sucked his breath in when he saw the Dark Mark. "You really _are _a Death-Eater. Why would you want to do something like that?" Draco just threw him a nasty look. Harry made a face. "Um, you don't need me to... put anything on you, do you?"

Draco gave the faintest hint of a smile. "Looking for an excuse to touch my bottom?"

"Please. It's probably as bony as the rest of you."

Draco opened the jar, took a handful of balm, and reached down the back of his boxers. An ugly black bruise was visible above his waistband. He grimaced as he worked the balm into his skin. "This is the worst pain I've ever felt."

"Well, your arm didn't work for months after you were scratched by a hippogriff, so it should be about five years before you can walk again."

"I've been going to the toilet by myself. Keep that up, and you'll be carrying a bed pan for me."

Harry reached into his robes. "I almost forgot." He pulled out a flask and showed the label to Draco. 'Primo Painkilling Potion: Exclusively By Malfoy Apothecaries' it said above an illustration of a white peacock.

"Hmm. I've never heard of it. My father's company doesn't make that any more." Draco took the flask, popped the top, and sipped. His face twisted. "Tastes like fried troll droppings." After taking a few more mouthfuls, his eyes went big, and he stood up and took a couple of steps. He ran in place, wiggled his hips, jumped up and down. "This stuff is amazing! Better than anything my father's company makes now." When he started to do a jig, Harry took the flask from him and squinted at the label. "What are you looking for?"

"I want to know what's in here that's inspiring you to dance around in your pants."

"It's not going to be listed on the label, idiot. If people knew what we put in our potions, they would just make them themselves." The closet door opened and a female house elf wearing the raggedy remains of a tatted placemat gawked at the two of them, confusion in her eyes. "_Boo_!" Draco lunged at her with his fingers curled into claws; she screamed and Apparated away. "She won't be coming back here any time soon," he said with satisfaction.

"Wow. You terrorized a house elf. You're amazing."

"Let's get out of this hole. Come on." Draco grabbed the invisibility cloak and put a hand on the doorknob.

"Get dressed first, Malfoy. I'm not getting under my cloak with you nearly naked."

Draco gave Harry a slant-wise look. "Afraid you'll like it too much?"

"Yeah, because I find x-rays irresistibly sexy."

"X-what?"

"Never mind. I just don't want your hip-bones poking into me. Without wands, we'll have to break into Riddle's trunk by hand. I found some tools." Harry took a minute to look at his map. "Riddle is outside the castle. Let's go."

...

The password had been changed, of course, but it wasn't long before a student entered the Slytherin dungeons. Harry and Draco followed close behind. Harry was able to guess which dorm room Tom slept in from what he had seen on the map, but there were ten trunks to be gone through. "Where do we start?" Harry asked.

"_His _will be the hardest one to get into." Draco effortlessly flipped open the trunk closest to him. "It's definitely not this one." Two other trunks opened easily. "_Malfoy triumphat_," Draco said, and one of the closed trunks popped its lid. "Family motto. That's Grandfather's."

That left six locked trunks. Harry pulled out his tools. "Let's get to work." Draco looked at the hammer Harry held out to him, frowning in puzzlement. "Use the claw-end to pry them open. Are all Pure-bloods this helpless?"

"If I had my wand, you'd see just how helpless I am," Draco snarked. He managed to get two trunks open, while Harry used a pair of kitchen shears to force three others. When Draco started prying at a trunk covered in blue Moroccan leather, the room was filled with a horrible, high pitched screech. "_A bloody alarm_!" Draco shouted. The two boys got back under the cloak just seconds before students came running to investigate.

"Better luck next time," Harry whispered as they made their escape.

"At least we know which trunk is Riddle's now."

...

But the next time, an alarm went off as soon as Harry and Draco entered the dorm room. Back in their hide-out, Draco said, "We've got to steal wands." He sat on a small stool that he had taken from the library and was wearing robes filched from the laundry that were far too loose on him. He upended a bottle of Primo Painkilling Potion, shaking the last drops out of it. "We're also going to have to get more of this."

"You're probably making it worse by masking the pain with that stuff and prancing around Hogwarts like you don't have a _broken arse_."

"Do you want to get back where you belong or not? Oh, next time we're out foraging, I'd like to find a comb. And a belt. And socks. And shaving supplies."

"We're like Borrowers, but normal-sized," Harry said.

"Like what?"

"Never mind."

"A stolen wand doesn't work that well, but it's better than none. We should take them from first years. They're the most careless, and their wands haven't had that long to bond with them."

"We're going to make first years cry. I know that's just a part of your daily routine, Malfoy, but I'm going to actually feel bad about it."

"Sometimes, you're almost witty, Potter. Come on, let's go."

Under the cloak, the two of them maneuvered through the hallways, dodging students, and communicating to each other with touches and gestures. The only misstep occurred when Abraxas came around a corner with a girl on each arm; Draco froze, and Harry nearly plowed him over. "Which one of you lovelies wants to help me with my arithmancy homework?" Abraxas asked with that cocky grin. Harry made a gagging noise, and Draco elbowed him in the ribs. Draco started to follow his grandfather, but Harry grabbed him by his robes and set him back on course.

The library was full of energetic first years busy not listening to the scolding librarian. Stealing two wands was simple. Harry took one from an over-sized boy who was lobbing spitballs at other children. Draco robbed a chubby ginger girl. Once out of the library, they ducked into an empty room. Harry took a quick look at his map. "Riddle is headed for the Entrance Hall."

"Let me try to disable the alarm. There's a good chance that it's the same kind that Slytherins use in our time to keep out nosy Gryffindors." Once they were standing in front of the doorway to Tom Riddle's dorm room, Draco made Harry cover his ears before saying the words "_Non transire_." They were able to enter the room. Draco tried a few charms on the blue trunk, but had no luck. "Try Parseltongue, Potter."

Harry pointed the wand he had stolen at the trunk and got a nasty shock. He threw the wand across the room. "It bit me!"

"Try mine." When Harry started speaking hissing, sinuous Parseltongue, the wand quivered hard and burst into flames. Draco shook his head. "Wands get angry sometimes. It's one thing if you win one in a fair fight, but they don't like being stolen from behind their owners' backs."

Harry rubbed his face hard. "But we can't _win _a fair fight, because we don't have wands to begin with. What the hell are we supposed to do?" His voice was filled with frustration.

"There's only one thing. We wait here. He'll have to open his trunk sometime."

"So we just take our wands back right from under his nose?"

"Have you got any other ideas?"

"No." Harry sounded tired. "Well, we might as well sit down. It's a school day. It could be a while." The two boys settled into the corner furthest away from the door and pulled the cloak over them.

...

It took hours. They quieted their rumbling stomachs by raiding the more easily opened trunks for candy, and snuck out to the toilets once. They passed the time with a book of dirty jokes that they found tucked under a mattress; Draco had to explain some of them to Harry. Draco was beginning to squirm in discomfort from the Primo wearing off when Riddle finally returned to his dorm. He had a look of cruel glee on his handsome face, a folded newspaper in one hand, and a complaining Abraxas Malfoy at his heels. "I don't know why you couldn't just tell me what's so important later, Tom. I almost had a wonderful night arranged with Nanette Niblitt. She's got the best set of knockers at Hogwarts and I think she's ready to go all the way."

"Forget about your animalistic urges for just one minute, will you? I think you would prefer to learn of your family's complete ruination in private," Riddle said, smirking.

Abraxas scowled. "What are you blathering about?"

Tom unfolded the paper and held it in front of Abraxas' face. "The Primo Painkilling Potion factory was infiltrated by none other than Rodney Goad. You may have heard of him, the Daily Prophet's most popular and trusted muckraking reporter, the recipient of ten Golden Quill Awards for excellence in journalism-"

"_He wouldn't_." Abraxas snatched the paper from Tom's hands. "He and my father have been friends since they were in school."

"Ah, but dear Rodney cannot abide injustice or corruption or exploitation, no matter who commits it," Tom said with a sneer. "I myself find such scruples to be tiresome. Who cares if house elves are horribly abused, or even worked to death? I don't. Bribing officials to look the other way when you import forbidden ingredients? I think that's ingenious, myself, but the bourgeois morality that most people cling to considers it to be wrong. And the sacrifice of a vagrant's life for profit? Your family ought to be given a medal for cleaning up the streets."

Abraxas was still staring at the newspaper in disbelief, mouthing the words as he read.

"Your father is going to Azkaban for sure," Tom sighed as stretched out on his bed. "And everyone who has taken Primo is going to be out for blood once they find out that they've been consuming opium, cocaine, and, oh, homeless people."

Draco made a chokingsound, but Tom apparently thought it came from Abraxas.

"Yes, your family is ruined. You're going to lose everything."

Abraxas tore the paper in half, tossed it in Tom's face, and ran from the room.

Draco's breathing was ragged. "Who's there?" Tom asked, sitting up. Goyle came lumbering into the room then, and Harry and Draco ducked out behind his broad back.

...

Draco was green-faced and sweaty as he laid on his side in a nest of sheets. Harry gave him a long look. "Are you in pain, or are you feeling sick because of the-"

Draco gagged.

"But the Primo is the only thing that's really worked well for you."

"I'll have to suffer, then. I'm not going to drink something with _human_ in it."

"How do you know that the story is true?"

Draco was silent for a moment, a hand at his mouth. "Because I never heard about it," he finally said.

Harry sat on the floor cross-legged, rocking back and forth a little as he thought. "I can continue trying on my own. Steal some wands, wait for Riddle in his dorm room, all that."

"_No_. If you're going to go after a Slytherin, you need a Slytherin. And if something happens to you, I'll be here all..." Draco's voice trailed off.

"What, Draco Malfoy needs _Harry Potter_?" Harry asked in a tone of exaggerated incredulity.

"Shut up, you pillock."

...

While Draco was recovering, Harry foraged for supplies and information. He found a book about Time-Turners in the restricted section of the library, and he and Draco took turns reading it aloud. It was a way to alleviate Draco's boredom at being confined, which, along with the pain he was in, could make him quite nasty. It was Harry's turn to read:

_THE CURIOUS CASE OF BERNARDO BLACKSTAR_

_Bernardo Blackstar was a skilled, innovative wizard who was often described as being ahead of his time. When he passed away from dragon pox at the ripe old age of two-hundred and sixty (a notable life-span, even for a wizard) in the year 1920, his great-great-great-grandson and heir discovered a most curious document in a safe-deposit box in Gringott's. It was a letter penned by Bernardo claiming that he was actually a man named Bertrand Breakspear who had traveled back from the year 1901 and had lost his Time-Turner in an unfortunate wagering incident involving a pub, a hippogriff, and a hatchling dragon._

_But no record of the existence of Bertrand Breakspear was ever found. Even in his last days, Blackstar was notable for his keen, rational mind, and, being of a very serious nature, it would have been very unlikely that the letter had been written as a prank. Which leads to only one possible conclusion: if one stays too long in the past, one is 'erased' from the present. _

Harry paused a moment. Draco's brow creased as he thought over the implications. "If we are erased from our present, then _this _is our present. Time-Turners can only take one backwards."

"So we would never be able to return." Harry's eyes widened.

"That might not be so bad," Draco said, so softly he was barely audible. Harry looked up at the other boy sharply. "Enough about Time-Turners. Entertain me, Potter." Draco propped himself up on one elbow. "Is it true that you grew up with Muggles and didn't even know you were a wizard? How horrible was it? Did you ever want to top yourself?"

Harry set the book down. "You're saying you would want to kill yourself if you were a Muggle?"

"Well, of course! I'm amazed that there aren't herds of them just throwing themselves off cliffs."

Laughing, Harry asked, "What, exactly, do you think Muggle life is like?"

"Boredom, drudgery, misery. Don't they spend most of their waking hours staring at boxes? And they don't have house elves to clean their toilets. I hear Muggles have their own schools. What do they learn in them? How to clean toilets?"

"Honestly, it's not _that_ bad."

"Would you go back to living like a Muggle?"

"Merlin,_ no_!"

Draco leaned forward. "You've got to tell me all about it. You owe me, you know. I wouldn't still be here if you had let me kill Riddle right off the way I'd planned to."

"Um, all right, whatever." Harry looked up at the ceiling as he chose his words. "My aunt and uncle made me stay in a cupboard under the stairs. When they let me out, I had to do all the chores, all the house cleaning, while my cousin just sat around eating and watching the telly."

"You were a house elf!" Draco said with unseemly glee.

"Shut up, I'm talking now. My uncle Vernon spent most of his waking hours talking about golf and-."

"What's 'golf'?"

"A bloody boring sport. Now, my aunt-"

"What's the point of a sport without magic?"

"You've got me. Now, my aunt-"

"I mean, if you can't fly-"

"Are you going to let me talk or what?"

"Maybe. Go on, Potter."

"And my aunt..."

Harry told stories until Draco's eyes closed, then he pulled a blanket purloined from the laundry over him. He gazed at the other boy for a moment, then curled up in his own blankets and went to sleep.

...

Harry and Draco were in a bathroom that was shunned by students due to a pixie infestation. "Hold still," Draco ordered as he held a straight razor to Harry's chin.

"Do we have to do this?" Harry whined. His chin and upper lip were covered with lather.

"Yes. You look like you have a centipede on your lip, and that goat-type _thing _on your chin is offensive. Two weeks without a shave, and you look like a Neanderthal."

"Are you _sure_ you know what you're doing?"

"I watched Grandfather do this every morning for years. Now shut up." Draco held Harry's head still with one hand and stroked the lather off with the razor. "There. Done. That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Harry touched his newly-smooth skin. "We run around under an invisibility cloak. It doesn't matter what I look like."

Draco started to lather up with the shaving soap. "I look at you."

"You don't have to."

"Maybe I like to." Draco gave Harry a side-long look in the mirror.

"Oh, ha ha." Harry splashed water on his face to remove the rest of the shaving soap. Draco started laughing. "What's so funny?" Harry grumped.

"You're so thick, you don't know when someone is flirting with you." Draco started using the razor on himself.

Harry gave the blond boy an incredulous look. "You, flirt with _me_? Right."

"It's not like I have anyone else to flirt with, and you're fanciable enough, even though you're an idiot. You have pretty eyes and a nice bottom."

"You're hilarious. I'm going to take shower now." Harry headed toward the back of the bathroom, to the door that led to the shower-room.

"I could join you. I mean, you do like boys, right?" Draco was standing hip-shot, half-smiling as he watched Harry in the mirror.

Harry stopped and turned around, jabbing a finger in Draco's direction. "A-HA! You're trying to get me to say I like boys so you can turn around and shout, 'Potter's an arse bandit!' all over Hogwarts."

"No one even knows who you are here, so there wouldn't be much point."

"So you'll wait until we get back to our own time. There's no other reason you'd be implying that you're gay. I mean, you wouldn't let me know if you really were gay, because I would just blab it to all my friends and then everyone would know."

Having rinsed his face, Draco wiped water out of his eyes with a forearm. "Frankly, Potter, on the list of things that concern me right now, having everyone know that I like boys is at the very bottom." He pulled off his over-sized robes, exposing a chest that was still bony enough to resemble a xylophone. "Those shower stalls are big enough for two."

"Stop being a prat, Malfoy," Harry said, turning away and missing the look on Malfoy's face.

...

"I'm fine. Stop acting like you're my mother," Draco complained.

"Well, you overdid it before and that's why it took you so long to recover."

"Thank you for your opinion, Healer Potter. Come on, let's get some wands first."

On their way to the library, Harry and Draco passed Abraxas. He resembled his future grandson even more, now; he had lost weight and had dark circles under his eyes. His cocky grin was gone, and he walked by himself. None of the other students spoke to him, though they whispered to each other plenty behind his back.

"His mother has gone for an extended stay at St. Mungo's."

"My mum says his father will be in Azkaban for life."

"Malfoy Manor and all its contents are going up for auction next month, I hear."

"Someone killed his dog and put a sign around its neck that said 'Malfoys are next'."

Draco's body tensed. Harry put a hand on his back, then snatched it back quickly.

The first years provided easy pickings again. They took four wands this time, just in case any of them turned out to be obstreperous. Draco disarmed the alarm, and he and Harry waited for Tom Riddle. And waited. And waited.

...

For the past week, they had been spending most of their waking hours waiting, and had yet to find an opportune moment to get into Riddle's trunk. The future Dark Lord was very protective of his belongings and never left the lid open while he walked away, or even while he turned his head away to speak to someone. During the week, Harry and Draco had entertained each other with stories and riddles, but it was the week-end now and students were in and out of the dorm constantly, keeping them from talking. Harry and Draco were both getting bored and irritable and they took it out on each other silently with pinching and hair-pulling and elbow jabs.

For a full three hours, Abraxas laid on his bunk staring blankly at his ceiling. He looked like he hadn't washed or changed his clothes for a while. When he finally got up and left, Draco said, "Let's get out of here. I can't take it any more. We're going to have to come up with some other plan."

Back in their closet, Harry said, "Damn, Malfoy, you're going to leave me permanently scarred," He pushed his sleeves up and surveyed the damage. His arms were covered in red and blue marks.

"_You _made me bleed." Draco pointed at the blood spots on his robes. "We should just shag and get all our frustrations out."

"_What_?" Harry gaped at the other boy.

"We're under that tablecloth of yours for hours together, right on top of one another, and it's getting to us."

"You're barmy."

"Come on. That wasn't a wand I felt poking into me today."

Harry blushed and looked away. "I'm going to get some food." He was out the door so fast, he created a breeze.

Draco's mouth twisted. "Yeah. Just run away, Potter."

...

"I can't believe we're doing this _again_. I swear, if we ever get back to our time, I won't sleep in the Slytherin dorms ever again. I'm really starting to hate it in here."

Harry shrugged. "Do you have another plan in mind yet? No? Well, you've got plenty of time to think one up while we wait."

There was a sound of footsteps and the two boys stopped talking. Abraxas and another boy followed Tom into the dorm room. Tom sealed the door shut and cast a muffling spell. "Why is Theodilus here?" Abraxas asked resentfully. He was unshaven and his hair was ragged-looking.

Tom smiled that cruel smile of his. He was as beautiful as a cobra about to strike. "I will help you, but only if you make a vow to me. An Unbreakable Vow. We need a Bonder for that."

"I don't know what you could possibly do. It's all gone too far already," Abraxas said in a very tired voice.

"It's almost time for Easter holidays. I'll have plenty of time to plot something." Tom pulled the Time-Turner out of his robes; Draco sat up. "I may even try to put this to use." Abraxas just stood unspeaking, staring at Tom with eyes that were dull and flat. "You literally have _nothing_ to lose. And everything to gain."

Abraxas took a deep, shuddering breath and held his right hand out. Tom took it. Theodilus, a tall, stooped boy, placed his wand on their clasped hands. "Abraxas, you repeat the terms that Tom gives you."

"In exchange for restoring your family reputation and fortune, you, Abraxas Malfoy, will serve me, Tom Riddle, for the rest of your life, in any capacity that I demand."

"In exchange for restoring my family reputation and fortune, I, Abraxas Malfoy, will serve you, Tom Riddle, for the rest of my life in any capacity that you demand."

"You, Abraxas Malfoy, swear that your children will also serve me for all of their lives, and your grandchildren, too."

"I, Abraxas Malfoy, swear that my children will also serve you for all of their lives, and my grandchildren, too."

Draco began to shake.

"Finish it, Theodilus," Tom ordered. A band of fire emerged from Theodilus' wand and wrapped around the clasped hands.

Draco's breath hitched, but he managed to keep quiet.

"It's done," Theodilus said.

Tom released Abraxas' hand, putting an arm around the other boy and slapping him on the back. "You've been one of my best friends here at Hogwarts since first came here. Friends help each other, Abraxas." His grin was predatory. "Let's get to potions class then, shall we?"

The minute Tom, Abraxas and Theodilus left the room, Draco began to cry, his chest jerking in silent sobs. "Grandfather sold us into slavery," he whispered. "I ought to kill him. End it all now."

Harry put a hand on Draco's shoulder tentatively. "Even if you could, it would mean that you would never be born."

"Maybe that wouldn't be so bad, not existing."

"You don't mean that."

Even in the dim light that filtered through the cloak, the misery on Draco's face was plain. "You don't know. You don't know." His voice was very small. He slumped against Harry's chest.

Harry's mouth opened, and his eyes went wide. He froze for a moment, then slid his arm around Draco. "Um, it's... okay." Draco wrapped himself around Harry and blindly hunted for his mouth, finding it in a kiss that was as clumsy as it was ardent. Harry made a faint noise in his throat as their lips connected and clung. Tears still rolled down Draco's face as they learned each other, and, after a few minutes, Harry started to laugh softly.

Draco drew back, pouting. "What's so funny?"

"Why do I always end up snogging crying people?" Draco reached out and yanked one of Harry's ears hard. "_Ow_! What was that for?"

"It's rude to mention other people you've snogged while snogging." Draco leaned in and and softly kissed Harry again, climbing up on his lap and wrapping his arms around Harry's head. His kisses were slow and light. Harry ran his hands tentatively over the other boy's back and put one hand on his hair.

Eventually, Harry pulled away. "Maybe the Slytherin dorm isn't the best place for this?" As if on cue, two boys came into the room, loosening their ties and talking Quidditch. Careful to keep themselves completely covered by the cloak, Draco and Harry snuck out of the dorm and made their way back their closet. The second the door was closed, Draco shoved Harry up against the wall and bit him on the neck hard enough to bruise. Harry yelped. "What was that for?"

Draco, his eyes still watery and red, said, "So you can't turn around and deny that it happened tomorrow." His mouth was hungry now, open and sucking as it took Harry's. One hand clutched the front of Harry's robes while the other tangled itself in untrimmed black hair.

Harry closed his eyes and clasped Draco's narrow waist, opening himself up to the exploration, his breathing deepening when the other boy's tongue brushed against his. When they paused to catch their breath, Harry asked, "Has that happened before? Some boy pretended that you and he didn't..."

"Didn't kiss. That _he _wasn't gay." Draco rested his forehead against Harry's; the two boys were nearly the same height. "You won't do that to me. You _won't_."

"How did you know that I like boys?" Harry asked.

Draco laughed softly. "It's poking me right in the hip. Though I like to think that it's just for me, not for boys in general." Draco kissed Harry some more, moving from his lips to his jaw and neck. "Will you sleep with me?"

"I sleep with you every night."

"You know what I mean."

"I've never..."

"So?" Draco nuzzled Harry's ear. "We don't know what's going to happen to us. We should take what we can. Do you understand what I mean?"

Harry's breathing was ragged. "I do."

"Just be careful. I still hurt a bit."

"I will be." This time, when Draco took his clothes off, there were no insults about how skinny he was.

...

The next morning, Draco woke up first. He didn't move. He just laid there on his side, staring blankly at the pile of clothes that lay a couple of feet in front of him. When Harry stirred, he closed his eyes tight and moved his lips silently. Harry grunted himself awake and rubbed his eyes. He saw Draco's bare back in front of him and reached out to run a finger down the prominent knobs of the other boy's spine.

Draco's face relaxed into a smile. "If you want the Time-Turner back, we're just going to have to bash Riddle over the head," he said.

"Which may also kill him, thus solving most of our problems."

"You're starting to understand me." Draco scooched back so that he was pressed against Harry.

"I'm afraid so." Harry kissed Draco's neck. "See, I'm not pretending it didn't happen. Do you still want to, as you put it, 'wink out of existence'?"

"You think one night with you will restore my will to live? You think awfully highly of yourself."

"Well, there's this morning, too." Harry ran a hand down Draco's flank. The blond breathed out a soft sigh as the hand began to explore. "Is that good?"

"Yes," Draco breathed.

"What about this?"

"Even better."

"What if I-"

Draco jerked, kicking Harry's shin in reflex. "_Ow_!"

"Sorry. I haven't really-"

"Merlin and Morgan, I can tell! Oh, I like _that_." Draco sighed and arched his back. "Keep doing that. Don't stop. Don't... ohhh..."

Half an hour later, Harry laid on his back smirking up at the ceiling, hands behind his head. "I finally figured out a way to make you shut up."

Draco was still on his side with one arm draped across the other boy's chest, the whiteness of his skin contrasting with Harry's olive tone. He licked the bite mark that he had made on Harry's neck the night before. "You're my boyfriend now. Right?"

"I guess. It's not like I've got a lot of other options, what with being invisible whenever I leave this clos-OW!" Draco had twisted one of his nipples. "You're my abusive boyfriend."

"Your very sexy boyfriend."

"Who needs to eat more. OW!"

"Your fashionably thin boyfriend."

"Who needs to tell me more about himself."

Draco nuzzled Harry's neck. "Like what?"

"What was it like growing up in Malfoy Manor?"

"Mm. It was all right, I guess. Not very many other children around, but Grandfather lived with us. Father was always busy, so Grandfather taught me. How to read, how to fly, how to draw. He told me how to flirt with girls, but that really hasn't come in handy for me." The smile on Draco's lips faded and he went silent.

Harry stroked Draco's tangled hair. "When he made that vow, I mean, he wasn't even with your Grandmother yet, was he? He didn't really sell _you personally _into slavery. I don't even know how that vow could even be binding."

"Whether it was or not, it doesn't matter. _He _thought it was binding," Draco said bitterly. "He raised me to-to believe in the Dark Lord, to follow Him. Grandfather never believed that the Dark Lord was dead and gone. When he knew he was dying, he was so_ angry_ that he would have to miss out on the Dark Lord's victory." Draco sounded very close to tears.

"I guess I shouldn't have asked." Harry turned his head and kissed Draco, grabbing a handful of the hair that he had been playing with.

"Are you trying to distract me with sex?" Draco asked when Harry pulled Draco up against him.

"Will it work?"

"We won't know until we try."

...

Bashing Tom Riddle over the head was far easier said than done. The boy always had people with him, it seemed, and one of them was usually Goyle. Sure, they could sneak up on Riddle invisibly and smash him with a brick, but would they be able to dig the Time-Turner out of his clothing without being hexed or ape-mauled? The Easter break came before they had a chance. Riddle stayed at Hogwarts, of course. Unfortunately, he persuaded several of his friends to stay, including his pet gorilla. Abraxas stayed, too, but the boy was like a fading ghost, pale and silent. Draco kept sneaking the cloak away from Harry and going off on his own. Harry would find him on the map, his dot just a tiny bit behind Abraxas'.

The third morning of the Easter break, Tom vanished from Hogwarts. Harry and Draco pored over the map, but he was nowhere to be found. "He's fulfilling his end of the bargain," Draco said. Tom was back by the next evening. Four days later, Draco came in after one of his sessions of following Abraxas holding a copy of the Daily Prophet. _RODNEY GOAD SCANDAL_! the headline screamed.

_Esteemed investigative journalist Rodney Goad has confessed to fabricating the Malfoy story that rocked the wizarding world just three weeks ago. The plan was, he says, to have Agrippa Malfoy thrown in Azkaban so that Goad would be able to romance noted beauty Sheba Malfoy. Arrangements are being made for Mr. Malfoy's release, and the planned auction of Malfoy Manor and all its contents has been canceled._

"Riddle's lived up to his end of the bargain. Now Grandfather has to do the same," Draco spat out bitterly. Harry reached out and stroked his cheek. Draco tilted his head into the touch, but he still frowned. "I really think I ought to kill him."

"You won't."

"You think you know me that well?"

"We've shared a closet for over a month and we've been, you know, together for a few weeks now."

Draco put his head in Harry's lap and wrapped his arms around his waist. "What's going to happen when we get back?"

"You mean with us?"

"Yes."

Harry stroked the silky blond hair that hid Draco's face. "We can still be together."

Draco was quiet for a moment. "People say things like that all the time. I think they mean them when they say them. But they change their minds."

"I won't change my mind," Harry said fiercely.

...

School resumed. Tom Riddle still went nowhere alone. Sometimes, he pulled the fine golden chain of the Time-Turner out of his robes and toyed with it, as if he knew that Harry and Draco were watching him and he was deliberately taunting them.

"Wands," Draco said. "We steal as many as we can, we test them all out, and the ones that work best for us, we use to stun Riddle and whoever is with him. Out of all the wands at Hogwarts, we've got got be able to find at least one that isn't happy with its owner."

The trouble with the plan was that, after the first wave of thefts, students stopped setting their wands down on desks and tables, instead keeping them in their robes at all times. Some even got special holsters that they wore at their hips. Most of the wands Harry and Draco filched did not work for them. They were left with one that was... passable. They sat in their closet, looking at what they had: one wand and a brick.

"Riddle is the most dangerous," said Draco. "I hit him over the head, and you stun whoever is with him. You developed pretty good stunning skills when you were training in Dumbledore's Army, right?"

"This plan is pathetic," Harry sighed.

"What else have you got?"

"Do you really think you can do it? Just BAM on the head? If you can't, we'll probably be dead."

Draco closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. "I've been preparing to kill someone for months. This is rather more hands-on than I expected, but it's what I have to do."

Harry watched Draco, waiting for more of an explanation, but none came. He shook his head. "You're good at being mysterious, aren't you?"

Draco just gave a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

...

It wasn't the perfect moment, but it was probably as good as it was going to get. Riddle and Goyle forced their way through a huge wooden door that had been boarded shut, and entered a part of the dungeons that was off-limits to the students for reasons of safety. "What's in here?" Harry asked Draco in a whisper.

"Don't know. It must have been sealed off before our time."

The area they entered was unfinished and filled with construction materials. Harry and Draco had only the dim light from Riddle and Goyle's wands to guide them, and they had to pick their way carefully, avoiding piles of wooden beams and rough-hewn stone. "I can't believe there's nothing here," Riddle said. "If they're trying to keep people out, there_ has _to be a reason."

"It's just a lot of rubbish," replied Goyle, kicking at a heap of lumber scraps.

Harry and Draco edged closer. Draco's hand tightened on the brick in his hand.

Riddle lit an oil lamp that sat on a rough work-bench, then bent down. "What's this?" He knelt on the floor and wiped away dirt and sawdust, revealing a trap-door. Draco took advantage of the moment, flinging off the cloak and leaping forward. He swung the brick down on the future Dark Lord's head, connecting with a crunch. Riddle grunted and went flat on the floor. Harry simultaneously shouted, "_Stupefy_!" Goyle yelped and staggered, tripping over a thick wooden beam and falling onto his knees.

Riddle reached for his wand with one hand while he tried to staunch the flow of blood from his head with the other; Draco stomped on Riddle's wand hand, snapping two of the fingers, and swung the brick again. The _thud_ that it made against Riddle's skull was sickening, but he still kept moving. "_Fucking die already_," Draco gasped. He looked sick, his face greenish through the blood that had splattered his face.

Harry, who had taken Goyle's wand, aimed at Riddle, but before he could cast a spell Riddle lunged upwards, knocking Draco over. The blond boy hit the floor with a _crack_, shouting wordlessly as his coccyx was re-fractured. All he could do as Riddle advanced on him was writhe in agony. Riddle fumbled at his wand with his uninjured hand, trying to blink away the blood that flowed into his eyes. "_Stupe_-" Before Harry could finish the spell, Goyle yanked his ankle and pulled him down; his cloak had gone askew, exposing his lower legs. Goyle grabbed the cloak by a corner and pulled it completely off. Harry tried to Stun, but Goyle took his wrist in a vice-like grip and twisted hard until he let both wands go. Goyle threw the wands into a dark corner and proceeded to beat Harry with his ham-like fists, starting with his face.

"I knew you were the rats infesting the walls," Riddle hissed. "Hiding away like vermin. You came back in time to kill _me_? Now I _know_ I'm going to accomplish great things. No one would do such a thing to murder a nobody." Riddle crouched over Draco like a vulture. He raised his wand. "What do I end up becoming?"

"Nothing," Draco said, panting with pain. "You become _nothing."_

Riddle grinned. It was ghastly, especially with the blood that had run into his mouth and stained his teeth. "Liars get punished. _Crucio_."

"NO!" Harry went wild, clawing and biting. Goyle recoiled when Harry scratched his eye and Harry rolled out from under him. The larger boy grabbed him by the ankle again as he crawled toward the screaming Draco, but an adrenaline surge gave Harry the strength to pull his foot away and aim a hard kick right to the bridge of Goyle's nose; cartilage crunched under his boot.

Draco stopped screaming. He lay curled on the filthy floor trying to catch his breath, tears streaming from his eyes. "Tell me, rat, what do I become? I must be so powerful in your time that I can't be assassinated. Just tell me, and I won't hurt you again."

Harry reached Draco and put himself between Riddle and the blond boy, making himself into a human shield. Riddle's laughter bounced off the raw stone walls. "Oh, isn't that sweet?" He aimed his wand at Harry. "How about you tell me about my future?"

Harry raised his chin. "You try to kill me, but you can't."

"Really? Let me give it a try." Harry's lips moved in a silent prayer. Draco stirred behind him, trying to sit up.

Goyle, moaning and clutching his face, got to his feet and lurched into a pile of stones, knocking several of them loose. One hit Riddle's wounded hand. In the short moment that Riddle was incapacitated by pain, Harry had his wand. "_Sectumsempra_!" Riddle let out a horrible wheeze as blood soaked his robes. "_Stupefy_!" Goyle, who had been staggering about mindlessly, went down. Harry grimaced as he stuck a hand down the collar of Riddle's robes. The Time-Turner was completely covered in red when he pulled it out; Harry wiped it off before putting it around his own neck.

"What did you do to him?" Draco asked. He stared at Riddle in fascinated horror as blood pooled around him.

"I don't know, really."

"Will he die?"

"Don't know that, either. Do you think you can get up if I help you?"

"You have the Time-Turner. Just go back."

"But we should get our wands before we return, don't you think?"

"There is no 'we'. I'm not returning if I don't know that Riddle is dead for certain."

Harry gaped at Draco.

The heavy wooden door was flung open. "Students are not allowed in here! I'll have you all hanging in chains!"

"Now, now, Filch. You'll have them hiding. I just want them out of here because it's unsafe."

"Sorry, Professor," Filch replied sulkily.

Harry got his cloak and threw it over Draco and himself. The boys crawled backwards, away from Riddle and Goyle. Draco's breath hissed sharply through his teeth with every movement. Filch and Horace Slughorn entered the pool of light that the lamp cast. "Oh, my," said the potions master as he bent over Riddle. "We've got to get him to the hospital wing as soon as possible." Slughorn levitated the boy up and out.

Filch walked over to where Goyle was crouched, nursing his wounds. "Get up, you big ape."

"Stupid squib," Goyle moaned; he got a smack on the top of his head in reply; Filch kicked and poked him out of the chamber.

"Thank Merlin," Harry sighed when he and Draco were finally alone. "Let's get out of here." He tried to put the chain of the Time-turned around Draco's neck, but the blond boy slapped him away. "What's wrong with you?"

"I told you. I won't go back until I know Riddle is dead."

"_Fine_. We'll wait and see." Harry helped Draco up.

"You could just go," Draco said. "What does it matter if I'm left here?"

"It matters. It matters to _me_." Harry half-dragged Draco back to the closet that was their home.

...

It was back to Draco recovering while Harry prowled for supplies and information. "Is he dead?" Draco asked Harry upon his return from another foray.

Harry laid a pillow-case full of food on the floor and began to sort through it. "I don't know."

"You're lying!" Draco sat up as best he could and glared. "I can tell. You're not very good at it. Is Riddle dead?" Harry pretended not to hear. "I'll go crawling around on my own if you don't tell me the truth."

"Merlin, you're a stubborn pain in the arse. Riddle's alive. It was touch and go for a while, but he's going to live. Here. Eat something. You're still too damn skinny." Harry pushed some bread and cheese at Draco.

Draco picked the food up, but didn't eat. "You've got to go back."

"So do you." Harry took a bite of an apple.

"I told you, I'm not going back if Riddle is still alive."

Harry threw the apple he was eating at the wall hard; it bounced with a splat. "I'm supposed to just leave you here?" he shouted.

"Yes," Draco said flatly. "It's my life. It's my choice." The corners of his mouth drooped, and his eyes looked everywhere but at Harry.

Harry jumped to his feet. "_You _were the one that started... _us_. We're-we're a couple now. You can't just... You can't."

"That prophecy that my father tried to get, it was about you, wasn't it? About how you're going to kill the Dark Lord? You have to go back so you can do that if I can't kill Tom Riddle."

"Come back and fight with me." Draco mumbled something. "What did you say?"

"Mother and Father. He'll torture them. And kill them. And kill me." Draco's voice was hoarse with suppressed tears. "Unless I kill Dumbledore."

Harry knelt down and lifted Draco's chin, forcing the blond boy to look him in the eye. "That's what it's all been about this year with you?" Draco nodded. "The necklace. The poisoned mead. You almost killed two people." Harry's grip tightened, his fingers digging cruelly into Draco's flesh.

Tears welled up in Draco's eyes. "I didn't want to kill anyone. I don't want to kill anyone. I just did what I had to do." The two boys stared at each other for a long moment. Draco reached out and pulled Harry to him, kissing him with a mindless desperation. Harry resisted at first, trying to break away from Draco's grip, but soon he was kissing back with the same fervor, his mouth opening wide, as if he wanted to devour the other boy. He started to push Draco down, but the other boy cried out in pain.

"I'm sorry. You made me forget," Harry panted.

Draco said nothing. He put his lips on Harry's throat and lifted the hem of his robes.

...

Draco woke first. He rose up gingerly on one hip and gazed gown at Harry, touching a stray lock of black hair. Harry was still sleeping on his side, his eyes darting back and forth beneath his Time-Turner chain hung partially out of Harry's robe, and Draco carefully eased it out. He reached out a finger to the hour-glass, but Harry's eyes snapped open and he took Draco's hand in a crushing grip. "You were just going to send me back while I was sleeping?" His voice was full of hurt. "I thought after last night..."

"That was good-bye, Harry."

"You're injured. You need me." Harry brought Draco's hand to his cheek.

"I'll go to the hospital wing."

"And if people know you're here..."

"If you leave with the Time-Turner, they can't send me back."

"I know that what you're saying has a sort of logic to it, but-" Harry's voice wavered.

"You'll probably just forget me. There will be a tiny, little hole in the world where I was, and it will just-close up, like I was never there."

"I need to get my wand!"

"You need to get back before you're stuck here, too. You know I'm right, Harry."

Harry rolled over onto his back and put a forearm over his eyes. "I'll take you to the hospital wing," he said thickly. "Just-give me a few minutes."

An hour later, Harry and Draco were before the Matron, an elderly woman with a face like a walnut. "Broken tail-bone? Did you fall off your broom, dearie?" she asked Draco.

"Yeah, that's what happened," he replied, wincing as he lowered himself onto a cot. Harry stood there awkwardly, twisting his hands. "Don't you have someplace you need to be, Potter?"

"Yes," the Matron said, frowning, "you ought to get back to class, boy."

"Good-bye, Potter. I'll see you later, I promise." Draco gave Harry a tremulous smile. "Remember what we talked about. Get out of here."

...

When the Time-Turner stopped spinning, Harry was back in the ruined hallway. He picked his way past the blocks of stone and the fallen timbers. Out in the main hallway, his too-short, wrinkled robes got him a few odd looks. He walked to the library and straight to the biography section. On the very top shelf was a thick tome that looked like it hadn't been touched in decades: the memoirs of Blanca Mundanus, famous for being the singularly most boring book to have ever emerged from wizard-dom. When Harry pulled it down, dust came down in a cloud and made him sneeze. He sat at a table in a corner that was almost hidden from the sharp gaze of Madam Pince with his back to the rest of the room. "_Malfoy triumphat,_" he whispered, and the book flipped itself open. It had been hollowed out, creating a rectangular space that held Harry's wand. Harry grinned even as his eyes went watery. "You did it," he said.

"_Shhh!_" hissed Madam Pince.

After a trip to his dorm to change into his own clothes and a trip to the kitchens to beg a shave and a hair-cut from the elves, it was almost dinner time. Harry headed for the Great Hall, running to catch up to Ron and Hermione."You feeling all right, Harry?" Ron asked. "You look a bit peaky."

"I'm fine. Anyone seen Malfoy around?"

"What's a Malfoy? Bloody hell, watch what you're doing!"

Crabbe, who had just roughly elbowed Ron, snickered. Goyle slammed into Harry. "Get outta our way."

Blaise Zabini strutted through the space the two bigger boys had cleared, sneering at Harry. "You look like shite, golden boy." Harry watched the three Slytherins swagger to their table. When Zabini took a seat, Crabbe and Goyle sat down on either side of him.

"Why's he picking on you?" Ron asked. "His house mate Nott looks far worse than you." Harry looked at Nott, who sat alone at the end of the Slytherin table. The boy seemed to be positively ill; he was scrawny, his skin was yellowish, and he looked like he had not slept for a very long time. "Time for you to start blathering about him being a Death-Eater and plotting dastardly deeds, like you do every other time you see him."

Harry swayed on his feet and Hermione put a steadying hand on his shoulder. "You _are_ ill. We should get you to Madam Pomfrey."

"No, I'm fine. I don't want to-to go to the hospital wing." Harry's voice cracked a little on the last two words.

"Maybe you should go lie down. I'll take him back to the dorm, Ron. Go eat."

Harry leaned on Hermione a bit, blinking hard. In his dorm, she fussed over him like a mother, pulling off his boots and tucking the blankets around him. After she left, he curled up on his side, eyes screwed up tight. He put a hand in his robes and wrapped it around the Time-Turner. It was a long time before he fell asleep.

...

"I'll meet up with you at the Three Broomsticks," Harry said to Ron and Hermione. "My astrolabe is broken. I'm going to stop in at Dervish and Banges." They had taken a leisurely walk to Hogsmeade, enjoying a late spring day that was perfect in every respect.

Mr. Banges was visible through the front windows of the shop; he was a sixtyish man with long white hair and a neatly trimmed beard, and he had a sort of hitch in his step that slowed him down a bit. "I'll help you in a minute, Mr. Potter," he called when Harry entered. "I'm in the middle of a tricky repair. How is Mr. Longbottom's Remembrall working?"

"Just fine. I didn't think you'd be able to fix it after Goyle sat on it. You're like some sort of wizard or something." Mr. Banges laughed. He was bent over a work table, hitting a square contraption that seemed to be made entirely of springs with a tiny hammer; at each strike, the contraption hummed melodically. "What _is_ that?"

"It attracts flobberworms. Don't ask why. I just fix things. I don't get into philosophical discussions about whether they should actually exist or not. I think I've got it." He gave one last tap. He looked up and smiled, crowsfeet bracketing his gray eyes. "I told you I'd see you later, Harry."

Harry turned pale, then flushed. When he staggered sideways, Mr. Banges took him by the arm and guided him into the back room, where Harry collapsed on a bench. "You've been here all along," he said faintly.

Draco sat beside him, lowering himself slowly. "Oof. I never healed right. Yes, it's always been me. And here everyone thought I was so nice to you just because you were the famous Boy Who Lived."

Harry couldn't stop staring. Half a century had left lines and wrinkles, but Draco was still a handsome man with his high cheek-bones and slim build. He wore the well-tailored robes of a moderately prosperous wizard, midnight blue gabardine with a matching hat. A diamond set in silver adorned his left ring finger. "Mr. Dervish is your... partner," Harry said, his voice still weak.

"Yes, in business and in life. At one time, I swore I'd wait for you. But then I realized that fifty years is a long time. And we'd make a ridiculous couple, now."

Harry raised a fist to his mouth and burst into tears. "It-it was all a waste!"

Draco's eyes widened. "Why would you say that?"

"You didn't kill Riddle. It was pointless, you staying behind. You should have come with me."

"But it wasn't a waste at all. I couldn't change the past, but I changed my own future. I've been happy for the last 45 years with Danny." Draco smiled when he said his partner's name.

Harry jumped up from the bench. "You could have been happy with me!" he shouted, his face contorted in rage. His hands were clenched and his chest heaved.

"Could we have?" Draco asked. His voice was sad. "I don't think so." He pulled up his left sleeve, revealing no trace of a Dark Mark. "What used to be here gave the Dark Lord control over me. He would have found a way to use me against you, or you against me. That's what he does. He doesn't understand what love is. It's just another tool for him. I know that all too well. My parents are better off without me. You're better off without me. You were the first person I really fell in love with, and I'm glad the Dark Lord never had a chance to use my feelings for you as a weapon."

"I'm still in love with you, and it's not fair that you've been over me for-for decades!"

Draco twisted his ring as he mulled over his next words. "I was bound for darkness. My grandfather sold me into slavery long before I was born. I know you don't want to hear this, but what I did was for the best. Come here." Draco patted the bench seat. Harry hesitated a moment before obeying. Draco took the boy in his arms and just held him, patting him gently on the back. Harry hiccuped a few times, then went quiet, closing his eyes and relaxing into the embrace. "I'm not going to say that everything is going to be all right because, Merlin knows, it's not. Not any time soon. Just remember, no matter what happens, you have a friend in me." Draco went silent, resting a hand on Harry's head. For ten minutes, the only sound was the ticking of a clock, and the occasional sniffle from Harry. When the clock struck the hour, Draco sighed. "It's almost time for Danny to get back. I don't know what he'd say if he saw me holding some pretty young thing."

Harry sat up, laughing a little. He took his glasses off and wiped his eyes. "I should probably go meet up with my friends. They're probably wondering what's taking me so long."

Draco followed Harry out of the back room. "You stopped in for a reason, I assume."

"Oh! Um." Harry fumbled his astrolabe out of his hoodie pocket and laid it on the work bench.

"I'll have that done by Saturday next."

"All right." At the door, Harry paused. "So, what happened to you after I left?"

"That's a very long story. I'll tell you some next week."

Harry put a hand on the doorknob. "Banges. Did you actually pick that name yourself?"

"Next week, Harry." The two gazed at each other for a moment, then Harry pushed out the door, setting the bell to jingling. Draco's eyes followed the boy as he trotted down the street; he smiled, but his eyes were sad.

A door opened in the rear of the shop. "Drake, I found quite a lot of those Sneakoscope parts that you were looking for. The junk-dealer wanted the moon for them, but I managed to talk him down some." Danny Dervish, a short, swarthy man with salt-and-pepper hair, walked out into the front room carrying a wooden crate. When he set it down on the work bench, Draco started digging through it, sorting out the different bits and bobs. "Are you all right, sweetheart? Your eyes are a little red."

Draco kissed his partner on the cheek. "Just a cold coming on." He rummaged through the box some more. "I could build several Sneakoscopes with what's in here."

"And we could sell them all. Everyone seems to want one these days."

"There's a very big storm on the horizon."

"Well, it's not for the likes of us to worry about," Danny said stoutly. "War is for young men. Even if I could turn back time, I wouldn't. We're well out of that mess."

"If I could turn back time," Draco murmured.

"What's that, dear?"

Draco didn't answer. He was looking at what Harry had left tucked under the astrolabe: the Time-Turner.


End file.
